Duel of Fates: Flaming Blades
by curtis.waters.549
Summary: Scorpion crosses blades with Mitsurugi in the style of Jensaarai's versus series.


I do not own Soul Calibur, Mortal Kombat or Star Wars. I personally apologize to anyone I offend with this fanfic. This fanfic was strongly inspired by Jensaarai's versus series and I have him to thank for the format I am using. Now let's get this duel under way.

**Martial Arts Training**

Scorpion was a practitioner of the hand-to-hand style of Hapkido. Hapkido is a Korean martial art that focuses on hand and leg strikes at a long range, joint locks at close range, and emphasized circular motion. Hapkido's advantage came from using footwork and body position to increase leverage, and avoiding a direct confrontation of physical strength. Hasashi often incorperates his chained kunai or "spear" to bring his oppenant to him and leave them stunned. Based on his personality I am inclined to believe that Scorpion favors being on the offensive throughout a fight and as such tries to overpower his enemies from the get go.

Mitsurugi was a ronin, meaning he primaraly relied on his bladework to win the day. As such, his knowledge of hand-to-hand combat was limited. The olny weaponless attacks he has displayed are various kicks, implaying knowledge in basic karate. When weaponless he is probably cautious and on the defensive, but as I said he is probably not very skilled in this manner of combat. He most likley just used his attacks to distract hi opponent and retrieve his weapon.

Despite the fact that since Mitsurugi has squared off against Taki who also uses projectiles and teleportation, he has only ever done so when armed with a blade. But, Mitsurugi has never encountered anything like Scorpion's raise hell technique. Because of this it's still very obvious that Scorpion gets the edge as a martial artist. This because of his mastery of Hapkido, and Mitsurugi's little to no practice as a hand-to-hand combatant.

**Weapons Training**

When armed with a sword Scorpion is average in skill. I say this because he seems to prefer only using one of his two ninjato blades at a time, and in the game rarely uses them, implying that he is more comfortable as an unarmed fighter. He still utilizes his "spear" to the same ends as when he is unarmed. It is unknown if scorpion can dual weild both of his ninjato blades at once, but it is still a distinct possibility. He prefers a one-handed grip and using quick combo strikes, while blocking incoming attacks with a two-handed grip. Overall this style is most usable as a fast paced offensive style, but has a solid defense, although due to his limited knowledge scorpions attacks and blocks are very predictable.

Mitsurugi's entire life revolves around sword dueling and improving his skills with the blade to become the strongest. Mitsurugi utilizes many different stances to confuse and overwhelm his opponent. Offensively he is known for using power blows to stagger his opponents, various grapples (all of which involve his sword, so they contribute nothing to his unarmed skills.), and quick but damaging blows which he can combine to combo his opponent for massive damage. Defensively he utilizes swift sidsteps and dodges, precise parrying, and solid blocks all of which he liked to follow up with lethal counterattacks. However he prefers to always be on the offensive making him predictable, he compensates for this with his various stances and a suprisingly sound defense. Overall Mitsurugi's fighting style is very balanced and extremely deadly due to the years of refinement that only experiance can bring.

While Scorpion is a decent swordsman, Mitsurugi is a master swordsman. I say this because Mitsurugi has years of combat experiance using his sword against a wide variety of both orthidox and unorthidox weaponry and styles. That and his special stances give him far more options in combat both offensively and defensively, and Mitsurugi has fought opponents with abilities similar to Scorpion's own. Mitsurugi has fought Hwang and Yun-Seong before giving him experiance against one-handed sword weilders, he has also fought Taki who has a teleporting ability and projectiles similar to Scorpion's teleportation and "spear", although the raise hell technique gives him a small element of surprise Mitsurugi is still smart enough not to fall for the same trick twice, and even if Scorpion can dual weild Mitsurugi hs fought Algol whom not only dual weilded but was also a supernateral being as well. Because of the experiance has against fighters with capabilities comparable to Scorpion's, and his superior skill as a swordsman Mitsurugi gets the edge as an armed duelist.

**Physical Attributes **

As a hellspawn from the Netherrealm Scorpion has superhuman strength, speed, durability, and stamina. He is extremely hard to send back to the Netherrealm, which is the only thing killing his physical body will do, this is mostly because Scorpion can take dozens of normally lethal blows and fight on, but he can be worn down and "killed".

Mitsurugi is a 46 year old human male, and despite still being one of the fastest and strongest fighters in soul calibur his advanced age is starting to take it's toll as he is not as swift and nible as he used to be, and it stands to reason that his stamina might have also been affected by the passing of time. He is insanely durable for a man of his years, still being able to not only engage opponents as strong as Astaroth but actually being able to best them.

It is _painfully _obvious that the physical edge goes to Scorpion. This is because of his hellspawn nature making him very hard to wear down and kill, while Mitsurugi can stand Scorpion's strength as Astaroth is at least just as strong if not stronger than the specter, and despite having fought Algol a being with physical attribute similar to Scorpion that was 17 years ago. In his advanced age Mitsurugi's stamina just cannot outlast Scorpion's. As such the physical edge goes to Scorpion.

**Strategies & Tactical Mindset**

Scorpion's very being is fueled by rage, due to this factor I believe he strongly prefers to overwhelm his opponents with his strength, speed, and Hapkido skills. Often using his "spear", teleportation, and raise hell techniques to damage and stun opponents from lon range giving him time to close the distance and start a devastating assault to finish the fight as quickly as possible.

Mitsurugi is a ronin, meaning he prefers to defeat his opponents in honorable ways. Mitsurugi also prefers to be on the attack most of the time but has learned from his experiances on the battlefield and knows when to go on the defensive and wait for an opening. He is a calculating but slightly cocky warrior who is constantly thinking on how to beat the opponent, memorizing their movements to prevent the same tactic from working on him again, and always adapting to new situations fairly well due to the strange things he has encountered on his journeys.

Because he tends to try and overpower his opponents all of the time Scorpion is exactly the type of fighter Mitsurugi is most familiar with. As such Mitsurugi would be able to out think Scorpion, going on the defensive until he spots an opening, and then goes to town on his opponent until he loses his offensive edge in which case he will go back on the defensive and wait for another opening all the while memorizing his opponents techniques and finding ways to counter them. So Mitsurugi gets the edge in terms of strategy and tactical mindset.

**The Verdict**

While Mitsurugi is vastly superior in armed combat and tactical mindset, Scorpion is has an insane physical advantage and a major edge in unarmed combat. Because of Scorpion's hellspawn nature, Mitsurugi's advanced age, and the fact that Mitsurugi's skills and Scorpion's powers cancel each other out, I declare Scorpion the winner. although it would not be an easy victory and Scorpion would have to take a short vacation to recover from the extensive injuries Mitsurugi would inflict upon him.

This is just my opinion, so please accept my apologies if I have offended you. But please, if you are going to criticize me please be civil and tell me how I may correct my mistakes. If requested I will write the duel itself in anothe fic. Please Review.


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